SALEM COUNTY PLAYOFF SCORES
- Pennsville 17, Burlington City 14
- Schalick 44, Maple Shade 6
- Woodstown 14, Highland Park 10
Included below: Top-seeded Schalick routs Maple Shade in rematch of its season opener
PENNSVILLE – For all the close games Pennsville played and lost in its WJFL division this season, including one against the team it played Friday night, the Eagles figured it was about time they pulled one out.
When Burlington City took the lead with a touchdown and second-chance conversion with 4:15 left, the Eagles seemed headed towards another heartbreaker, but this time they found a way.
Quarterback Jake Layfield delivered a six-yard touchdown pass to Danny Knight on fourth down with 22.9 seconds left – also with a second chance – to give the Eagles a 17-14 win in the first round of the South Jersey Group 1 football playoffs.
The third-seeded Eagles (5-5) are now gearing for a two-hour bus ride to No. 2 Delaware Valley for a second-round game Friday. The Terriers (8-2) dumped Gateway 28-6 in their first-round game.
“We’ve had so many close games this year – we’ve been on both sides of it – obviously finishing it and getting the win it just feels awesome,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “The way the kids stepped up there at the end of the game offensively and making that pick at the end, I couldn’t be happier.
“We’ve had a couple close playoff losses going back two years ago so it was nice to finally be able to have that close-game win in a playoff game where the last year we weren’t able to get that. I don’t know if we were necessarily owed it, but it certainly felt good to be on the right side of it.”
If you thought the fourth quarter of the regular-season game between the teams was bizarre when the Eagles rallied from 11 down entering the fourth quarter to shave a chance to win with one second left, this one has it beat.
The Blue Devils took the lead with 4:15 to play when quarterback Mason Shansey retrieved a high snap from the 4 and found his way into the end zone. The Eagles threw them for a big loss on the two-point conversion try, but they were hit with a personal foul Eagles giving the visitors another shot. This time, Shansey tried to make something out of another bad snap and he hit Eric Greenberg-Sharper for two to make it a 14-10 game.
The Eagles had the ball for 20 of the next 21 snaps where they had more lives than the luckiest cat. Their first possession ended on an erroneous fifth down they failed to convert at midfield, but they got the ball right back when Dante Cummings recovered a Tavion Miller fumble on BC’s first snap.
“There definitely were a lot of emotions in that quarter,” Layfield said. “We got stopped, I walk over to the sideline ready to break my helmet and then I turn around and the ball’s loose and we recover it.”
“We’ve forced a lot of turnovers this year so we always have a belief we’re going to be able to get turnovers on defense.,” Healy said.
On the go-ahead drive, Jacob Kimani had a clutch 11-yard catch on fourth down and smartly got out of bounds. On fourth down from the 12 with 32.9 seconds left Layfield threw incomplete to Knight on the far side of the field, but the Blue Devils were called for defensive holding to give the Eagles life.
Given a second shot, this time from the 6, Layfield went right back to Knight on the slant and the receiver hauled it in for the go-ahead score. Cummings hit the extra point and it was 17-14.
“All I heard was, ‘Danny, run the SHIN,’” Knight said. “Coach (Ryan) Wood knows I’ve got the better reads, I beat the guy on the route any time. I did that, caught it right in the stomach (and scored). Right before that there was a good play, really good release, beat the guy off the route and he turned me out, got the flag and I was so mad. Coach Wood saw that in the booth. He gave me that chance (again) and I did it.”
“Danny’s the best close route runner,” Layfield said. “I haven’t seen a single person that’s been able to guard him on the slant. We know that. We sent him out wide, called slant left and he won the slant, just like I knew he would.”
Layfield completed 21 of 39 passes in the game for 201 yards and surpassed the 2,000-yard passing mark for the season. He’s the first Eagles quarterback to reach the milestone since Dylan Cummings threw for 3,078 yards in 2012. Cummings also threw for 2,323 yards in 2011.
Of course, the Eagles celebrated the go-ahead touchdown, but did it a little too excessively. The penalty cost the Eagles on the kickoff and the Blue Devils were able to set up for a potential game-winning touchdown at the Pennsville 37 with 19 seconds left. Shansey went for it all on the first play and Grady Sanders intercepted the pass to end the threat.
“There was a lot of action in the fourth quarter; it didn’t come out our way,” Burlington City coach Kadin Booker said. “We just wanted to finish. That’s something we’ve emphasized all year long. We finished pretty well in the regular season. Thought we finished well today and there were a couple penalties called on fourth down the last drive that … no comment.”
Layfield got the Eagles on the board first with a 28-yard pass to Aiden Collazo on the first play of the second quarter and Tristan Horner, who ran hard in his return to the lineup from injury, picked up the conversion to make it 8-0. Tavion Miller found the end zone for Burlington City in the third quarter, but the Eagles stuffed him on the two-point try to maintain the lead.
The Eagles extended their lead to 10-6 later in the quarter when Javion Sydnor blocked a punt and the ball bounded out of the end zone for a safety.
“I have full confidence in myself and I told everybody before the play even started I was going to make a play,” Sydnor said. “I went in there, did my thing and blocked the punt. The guy came and blocked me, I got off the block and I just made a play on the ball.”
Pennsville 17, Burlington City 14
| BC | PV | |
| 13 | 1st Downs | 15 |
| 32-176 | Rushing | 27-53 |
| 5-14-1 | Passes | 21-39-1 |
| 65 | Passing | 201 |
| 3-2 | Fum-Lost | 3-2 |
| 2-23.0 | Punts-Avg. | 1-26.0 |
| 11-95 | Penalties | 13-122 |
| Burlington City | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8- | 14 |
| Pennsville | 0 | 8 | 2 | 7- | 17 |
SCORING SUMMARY
PV-Aiden Collazo 28 pass from Jake Layfield (Tristan Horner run) 11:50 2Q
BC-Tavion Miller 43 run (run failed), 9:07 3Q
PV-Safety, Javion Sydnor blocked punt out of end zone, 2:53 3Q
BC-Mason Shansey 4 run (Eric Greenberg-Sharper pass from Mason Shaney), 4:15 4Q
PV-Danny Knight 6 pass from Jake Layfield (Dante Cummings kick), 22.9 4Q
Top Seeded Schalick takes care of business
PITTSGROVE – In a game they were the overwhelming the favorite, top-seeded Schalick took care of business.
Quarterback Kenny Bartee rushed for two touchdowns and threw to David Stewart for another, DezYon Purnell returned an interception for a touchdown and the Cougars met the running-clock threshold before halftime as they mauled Maple Shade 44-6 in their South Jersey Group 1 playoff opener.
The Cougars (10-0) now host fifth-seeded Shore in a semifinal game Friday. Shore (4-5) overran Manville 34-7 behind Cole Torres’ 314 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
“The goal was to go 1-0 this week,” Schalick coach Kevin Leamy said. “Having played them earlier in the season we knew it was a good chance of having the outcome that we had, but you still have to play the game and you still have to execute. They put up a fight best they could, but at the end of the day just get the win, get ready for the next one.”
In addition to Bartee, Stewart and Purnell finding the end zone, Evan Elliott and Gabe McFarland also scored touchdowns for the Cougars. They also scored a safety on a blocked punt.
Perhaps the toughest thing for Cougars was to stay engaged against a team they steamrolled 63-3 in the season opener. They led 37-0 at halftime and let the reserves played the second half.
“The goal all week was on us,” Leamy said. “We need to continue to get better because eventually we are going to run into very good football teams, so we need to focus on us and make sure we’re continuing to get better. It doesn’t matter that our opponent isn’t the best. We need to focus on what we need to do.”
About the only thing that was surprising about the game was a national scoring service updated listed Maple Shade with a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
“That would’ve been funny (to see that),” Leamy said. “If it had been that score, that would’ve shocked me. I probably would’ve broke something at halftime in the locker room if that was going on.”